Pregnancy May be Hazardous to your job

  The joy of knowing that your pregnant is almost incomparable for soon to be parents(of course that joy can be tempered by morning sickness and other related maladies that women suffer and men claim to suffer).

One thing that we usually don't associate with pregnancy is loss of a job. Since we have become a more enlightened(not by much) Nation, we have generally adopted both laws and customs to facilitate the birthing of a child, so that one's employment is not jeopardized.

  And now, THE LAW, part 1: The Family&Medical Leave Act.

Under the FMLA, an "eligible"employee may take up to 12 workweeks of leave during 

any 12 month period for the birth of a child, and to care for a newborn child

for one or more. Generally only larger companies are subject to this Federal law,

but many smaller companies do choose to follow it as a guideline.

 THE LAW, part deux: The Americans with Disabilities Act.

 The Americans with Disabilities Act is a wide-ranging legislation intended to make American Society more accessible to people with disabilities. Title 1 applies to the employment environment.

 Business must provide reasonable accommodations to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in all aspects of employment. Possible changes may include restructuring jobs, altering the layout of workstations, or modifying equipment. Employment aspects may include the application process, hiring, wages, benefits, and all other aspects of employment.

 So, ok. You're pregnant (and by you I mean  you the female partner, not you, the terribly suffering male partner). You've got your FMLA leave all set-up(in your mind at least), and you are thinking that the ADA will protect your physical well being and rights during your pregnancy, should your employer be anything less than considerate. And lastly, you know that should a problem arise, you can always call upon the Champion of the Taken Advantage of, Alan Barry.

 And who would think, in this day and age, that an employer would be so stupid, to either fire someone while they were pregnant, or fire them, after they have given birth , but before they return to work. Well, think again.

 A young woman came to my office recently and related that during her second the second tri-mester of her pregnancy, she developed very serious complications, requiring her to have weekly doctor visits, and often more than once a week. She always offered to make up the time, but her employer had some very strange rules about the exact time she could work. Oh, did I mention that her employer is a Hospital?! Anyway, they apparently didn't like her absences(which were all well documented by her treating doc), and about a month before she was due, they fired her.

  You, dear reader are now assuming I am going to tell you how I got her ownership of a majority interest in the hospital, right? Well, not yet. And there is a problem.

 She wasn't protected by the FMLA, as her leave time had not yet started, and the ADA does not cover pregnancy! I know if you are woman reading this, you are saying, what? Pregnancy is not a disability? What do you call swollen ankles and feet the size of basket balls?Who wrote this law, men?

 Nope, the ADA may protect my client if she has serious complications of her pregnancy, and she,with my assistance will have to wind our way through a tortured path of both State agencies, and State and Federal Courts. Of course, I think we will prevail, but in a household counting on two incomes, just when there is a new baby, a positive outcome 2 years from now will be of little comfort.

 In a related story, Victoria's Secret recently fired a woman who oversaw sales at a number of their stores in New York and Connecticut, while she was out on maternity leave, and presumably covered under the FMLA.

 In that case she alleges that she was fired while on leave. It was during that leave that she recieved a voice mail advising her of a problem condition at one of the stores she oversaw. She passed this info along to the woman assigned to cover for her while she was out. Apprently, this wasn't good enough, and she was allegedly fired for this, upon her return to work. Her case is now pending before the Connecticut agency that deals with claims like this.

 For more detailed information on this, or any other issue, feel free to email me at alan@alanbarry.com